Date: October 11, 2021
Financial Management, trauma healing, and self-love were among the important topics discussed by participants of the Life Skills Training conducted by ACbit in cooperation with Fundasaun Ahisaun, Casa Vida, Uma Paz Baucau, and ACbit’s Focal Point for Ainaro Municipality.
The training was conducted 6 times from September 10th to September 22nd 2021 in 3 different municipalities: Ainaro, Baucau, and Dili.
The training activities were attended by a total of 153 participants consisting of women survivors of past conflict violence, children of the women survivors, and women victims of gender-based violence (GBV) in shelters.
The aims of the training were to provide capacity building in life skills to support the women’s autonomy, increase their confidence, and reduce self-blaming. The facilitators of the training were the participants of the Life Skills training of trainers (ToT) held by Hivos in May and July 2021.
“I felt so good. It gave me many things to learn. This global pandemic gives us a lot of pressure, [but] I can learn new things from this training, and I can apply what I have learned to my daily life with the community and my fellow women,” said Micaela do Carmo, a participant from Dili.
Similarly, Anastacia Ximenes, another participant from Baucau, said, “I am really happy with the training because I can learn things such as mental health, nutrition, gender equality, and financial management. I would like to apply what I learned in my daily life.”
These activities were part of the Reforsa Hamutuk project, a 30-month project funded by the European Union, with implementations conducted by Hivos, ACbit, and Fokupers, to promote social inclusion and economic development of women survivors and victims of violence in Timor-Leste. Other than in the three municipalities, ACbit will also held similar training for women in shelters in Oecusse.
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